Screen Junkies
Screen Junkies is an online movie magazine and YouTube channel focused on movies and television. It is owned by FANDOM, the fan wiki hosting service. Screen Junkies is best known for producing Honest Trailers, a series of short comedy videos that satirize movies and TV shows. Honest Trailers has been nominated for three Emmys, in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Screen Junkies consists two YouTube channels: Screen Junkies main and Screen Junkies News.' '''From 2015 to 2017, Screen Junkies also ran a paid subscription service called 'Screen Junkies Plus. As of October 2018, Screen Junkies main has over 6.5 million subscribers and over 2,100,000,000 views, while Screen Junkies News has over 1.5 million subscribers and over 650,000,000 views. '''Visit the Screen Junkies channel on YouTube Company history Screen Junkies' offices and studios are located on Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA.The GM of Screen Junkies is Michael Chiang. The size of the Screen Junkies team has varied over the years - in 2017, up to 25 people worked at Screen Junkies. In 2018, up to 18 people work at Screen Junkies in any given week. See list of notable Screen Junkies people for more information on key contributors. Break Media The Screen Junkies main channel was created on October 3, 2008 but did not start uploading content until 2011. The company was originally owned by Break Media '''and was designed to target a young male demographic. Defy Media In October 2013, Break Media merged with '''Alloy Digital to become Defy Media. As part of Defy Media, Screen Junkies had close ties with with other Defy Media brands, especially Smosh Games and Clevver which had offices in the same building. Some employees, like Spencer Gilbert, worked simultaneously on Screen Junkies' Honest Trailers series and Smosh Games' Honest Game Trailers 'series. FANDOM In July, 2018, Screen Junkies was purchased by Defy Media'FANDOM '''for an undisclosed amount. FANDOM (also known as '''Wikia.Inc) is the for-profit offshoot of Wikipedia, and the company that powers this very wiki. According to an article published by Variety, FANDOM had been "interested in teaming with Screen Junkies for about a year." FANDOM's acquisition of Screen Junkies is part of its ongoing pivot to video. FANDOM describes its pivot to video as modernization: "This is not about us becoming a video company, but rather about diversifying our content to keep up with user and advertiser expectations." FANDOM's chief content officer Dorth Raphaely said “We’ve been targeting potential ways to get into the YouTube business. We debated build-versus-buy, and in the end it made more business sense to partner with someone who’s built to reach exactly the audience we are." In November 2018, shortly after the sale, Screen Junkies' former parent company Defy Media ceased operations. Screen Junkies was affected because they subleased their office space and some equipment from Defy. In February 2019, the Defy Media shutdown meant Screen Junkies lost access to their Screen Junkies News studio. Company identity Screen Junkies has always been part of a larger company, unlike many other YouTube channels that started out as small projects pursued by individuals. Screen Rant compared Screen Junkies' approach to other YouTube companies like CinemaSins, writing "''There is a major difference in the two companies right from inception, though. Whereas Sins is the product of friends chasing a single idea, Screen Junkies is a subsidiary of Defy Media that set out to explicitly build its brand; go back to the start of the channel and you find a slew of playful movie-themed videos attempting to tap into the zeitgeist, with 'Honest Trailers''' emerging as a success almost by accident after a single video mocking the 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace. And while SJ has since evolved into a massive network with multiple shows, a second news channel (formerly Clevver Movies) and a paid subscription service, as well as fan meetups and SDCC events, Sins remains at its core the same thing; they actually have more subscribers, but that only highlights the different types of success the pair get." [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=3g09DAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The book The Politics of Ephemeral Digital Media suggests] that Screen Junkies is an example of a channel characterized by an "overall playfulness" including "parodies and playful takes on movies and media products" and other seemingly "fannish or amateurish endeavours" (page 144). The authors note a serious business model underlies this playful exterior. Main Shows Screen Junkies main has over 6.5 million''' subscribers and over 2,100,000,000 views. The main channel has three core shows: '''Honest Trailers, Movie Fights and The Screen Junkies Show. Honest Trailers .]] Honest Trailers 'is a comedy series of fake trailers that satirizes and parodies movies and TV shows. 'Honest Trailers are short videos, usually 3-7 minutes in length, that combine the visual style of movie trailers with parody voice-over to humorously reveal the true nature of a movie or show. Honest Trailers is Screen Junkies' most successful show in terms of both view-count and critical acclaim. Honest Trailers has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Variety Shortform Variety Series" three times, in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Honest Trailers has also won two Streamy Awards - Best Writing in 2016, and Best Collaboration in 2017, shared with actor Ryan Reynolds. Honest Trailers debuted in February 2012, created by Andy Signore and Brett Weiner,' '''and shepherded by Break Media's Head of Programming '''Mitch Rotter'. Since 2012, over 250 Honest Trailers have been produced. The Honest Trailers series is a source of over 1 billion total views. The most well-known episode is probably the Honest Trailer for Deadpool, which included a surprise appearance from Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds as the foul-mouthed, fourth-wall-breaking superhero himself. Some Hollywood directors have stated they are fans of the Honest Trailers series, for example Joe and Anthony Russo. The narrator of Honest Trailers is currently Jon Bailey. The persona of the narrator is usually referred to as Epic Voice Guy. Epic Voice Guy is considered a fictional character in his own right, as he has a fictional family, history and personality totally distinct from Bailey's. The series is written and produced by a team of people. The current team of writers consists of Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell,' Joe Starr '''and 'Lon Harris.' See the main page about 'Honest Trailers''' and the list of Honest Trailers '''for more information. Movie Fights was the 2018 Championship Title Match''' featuring Dan Murrell, Ed Greer and Cucumber.]] Movie Fights is a weekly competition in which three guests debate topics related to movies and pop culture. Some episodes feature serious, thoughtful arguments, while others have a sillier, comedic bent. Episodes typically run 60-80 minutes. It was created by Andy Signore and first began production in 2014. Over 200 episodes of Movie Fights have been produced. Movie Fights is also available as a podcast. Movie Fights is currently hosted by Hal Rudnick with the support of fact-checker Dan Murrell and social media ambassador Danielle Radford.'' 'Movie Fights contestants are typically people working in the digital media industry, especially hosts from Los Angeles-based YouTube channels. Many of Movie Fights highest-viewed episodes have featured celebrity guests including actor Seth Rogen, director Kevin Smith and actor Elijah Wood. See the 'Movie Fights main page '''for more information. The Screen Junkies Show 'The Screen Junkies Show is an entertainment/comedy web series created in 2011 by Andy Signore and Brett Weiner. It is an assorted collection of panel discussions, comedic celebrity interviews, and comedic stunts related to movies. The Screen Junkies Show first started production in 2011. It used to be published weekly, from 2018 on it was published about twice a month. The host of The Screen Junkies Show is Hal Rudnick. The Screen Junkies Show is probably best known for a 2012 video in which Christopher Walken read the words of child reality star Honey Boo Boo, a 2014 video in which the host smuggled a camera into Shia LaBeouf's performance art project #IAMSORRY, and a 2015 video in which Dwayne Johnson was the surprise marriage celebrant for a real wedding. For more information, see The Screen Junkies Show main page. Other shows' The Screen Junkies main channel also periodically releases other shows including''' Cram It!, written by '''Lon Harris, which humorously abridges long-running movie and TV franchises to coincide with the release of new installments or seasons; and Serious Questions, which asks humorously nitpicky and trivial questions about films. ''Flick Bait'' was a variety/sketch show that ran for 21 episodes in 2017. Screen Junkies News [[Screen Junkies News|'Screen Junkies News']]' (SJNews)' is a YouTube channel focused on movies and television. It has over 1.5 million subscribers and over 650,000,000 views.1 Screen Junkies News covers pop culture news with an informal, comedic bent, although it also covers serious news with gravitas. Screen Junkies News' shows are strongly personality-driven. The channel's main show is Screen Junkies Universe (SJU), a daily 30 minute panel show where four hosts discuss multiple topical news stories. The Editor-in-Chief of Screen Junkies News is Roth Cornet. Screen Junkies News was created in 2016 as a re-branded version of the channel ClevverMovies. At this time, both Screen Junkies and Clevver Media were owned by the same parent company, Defy Media. Please see the Screen Junkies News page for more information, including a complete list of shows. Screen Junkies Plus , Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell and Jon Bailey also provide the voices. The female character is voiced by Joe's wife, Torlin Torgersen.]] Screen Junkies Plus '('SJ+ '''or Plus') was Screen Junkies' paid streaming service which ran from 2015 - 2017. Plus offered a slate of original, exclusive programming available through either the website or an app for a monthly subscription fee of $4.99. Shows on Plus included the original scripted sitcom '''Interns of F.I.E.L.D''., the animated comedy series ''After Credits, the monthly pop culture parody Screen Junkies Roasts, and numerous panel and talk shows focused on movies and TV. Screen Junkies Plus was created in late 2015 in an effort to grow the Screen Junkies brand. In addition, it made the channel less dependent on Facebook and YouTube ads for revenue. Screen Junkies Plus offered fans more ways to interact directly with the Screen Junkies hosts, for example, by Skype-calling during live shows. Screen Junkies Plus ceased operations in 2017. The content remained available until early 2018, until Defy Media stopped supporting the website/app. In 2018, the cost of setting it up was cited as a contributing factor in Defy Media's shuttering. All the Plus content still exists, but Screen Junkies currently has no way of releasing it. See the Screen Junkies Plus page for more information, including a complete list of Plus shows. Screen Junkies on Facebook Screen Junkies has multiple pages on Facebook page: their Screen Junkies page has around 400,000 followers, while their Honest Trailers page has around 450,000 followers. Screen Junkies upload many of their videos to Facebook, where they attract a significant amount of views. Screen Junkies also release some videos exclusively on Facebook, including The Dailies, which are usually short, shareable videos, often related to memes. Screen Junkies has also made a selection of Honest Trailers Anime available exclusively on Facebook. There is often a massive gulf between the popularity of videos posted to Facebook compared to other platforms. For example, in 2018, Screen Junkies' The Dailies Stranger Things meme "trying to find my will to go to the gym like..." attracted over 27 million views on Facebook, but only 20k views on Twitter. Likewise, some Honest Trailers attract significantly more views on Facebook than they do on YouTube, for example Every Wes Anderson Movie has 2 million views on YouTube, and 5.3 million views on Facebook. See the Screen Junkies Facebook page for details. Signore incident On October 8, 2017, Screen Junkies boss and SVP of Content at Defy Media [[Andy Signore|'Andy Signore']] was fired for "egregious and intolerable behavior." Multiple women came forward on social media to accuse him of sexual harassment and one woman accused him of attempted sexual assault. The attempted sexual assault had been raised to Defy Media's HR department months beforehand with no apparent consequences until the allegations were made public. Signore's firing happened soon after allegations about Harvey Weinstein were made public, and is considered part of the #MeToo movement and The Weinstein Effect. All Screen Junkies channels remained dark for three weeks after the incident while the employees decided whether they would continue with the company. Signore's image was removed from the thumbnails of several videos on both channels following his termination, and several videos on both channels featuring Signore were deleted out of sensitivity. This included changing the thumbnail on the Titanic and Game of Thrones Honest Trailers to be less objectifying, deleting several videos filmed at Comic Con that featured hosts objectifying female cosplayers, deleting a video review of the film Baywatch in which Signore made objectifying remarks about the cast, deleting an episode of SJU in which Signore told a Playboy Bunny story, and deleting all episodes of the sketch show Flick Bait. Some episodes of Flick Bait included comedy sketches that appeared dubious in light of the accusations. Some shows permanently ceased production after Signore's firing, including Flick Bait and ''TV Fights.'' ''Movie Fights'' went on a three month hiatus, but returned as weekly show with a retooled format and a new host in 2018. Upon their return to work in late October 2017, the Screen Junkies hosts expressed unequivocal support for the women who came forward. They explained the workplace changes which were to be introduced to ensure a similar situation could never happen again. This included a third party to look into how Defy Media handled the complaint, sexual harassment training for all staff, a fan interaction code of conduct and the commitment to be "more a part of the world." The Screen Junkies hosts linked the Signore situation to the wider cultural shift regarding sexual harassment happening all across the entertainment industry, as well as the broader problem of workplace harassment in general. Screen Junkies contributors expressed a willingness to examine how their own practices invited divisiveness. They also endeavored to improve the culture of the Screen Junkies community through changes to programming and comment moderation. In May 2018, Screen Junkies ran the Movie Fights Live Extravaganza fundraiser benefiting the charity Women in Film. The Screen Junkies community together raised over $38,000. External links * Screen Junkies YouTube channel * Screen Junkies Twitter account * Screen Junkies Facebook page * Honest Trailers Facebook page * Screen Junkies News Facebook page * Screen Junkies' page on Wikipedia * Screen Junkies' page on Wikitubia, the Youtubers Wikia * 'Screen Junkies podcasts available via Player.fm '(Incl. Movie Fights, Watching Thrones, Knocking Dead, Flash and Friends, Debugging Mr Robot). Category:Organizations Category:Screen Junkies Category:Youtubers Category:Defy Media Category:Fandom